Summer research

[Apogeee]

What are you working on this summer?

I'm finishing some odds and ends from the spring, and then I'm starting to do research on a renaissance author named Posselius. I have a few other unformed ideas. I should probably decide and stick with one at a time!

 

[pro Augustis]

On 6/4/2016 at 1:25 PM, Agrippina said:

What are you working on this summer?

I'm finishing some odds and ends from the spring, and then I'm starting to do research on a renaissance author named Posselius. I have a few other unformed ideas. I should probably decide and stick with one at a time!

 

I don't know much about Posselius—what makes him interesting? 

I feel you about having far too many ideas of things to read/research! I have something like half a dozen projects operative right now, partially as a legacy of making my summer plans and then, a short while in, have a friend suggest we read through some texts together. Being apparently fond of fragmentation, I am now proceeding with both plans. In Latin I am reading Cicero's Catalinarian speeches because I have read surprisingly little Cicero to this point and, while I so far do not love him, I know that I need to give him more of a chance and, at the very least, learn to understand/respect him. When in the mood for something less polemical, I'm reading chapters of that classic of Latin literature, Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis. With the aforementioned friend I am working through the North and Hillard prose comp book. In Greek I am doing Xenophon's Anabasis myself and Thucydides' Archaeology with the friend. Then to keep my German sharp I am reading Alföldi's Die monarchische Repräsentation in römischen Kaiserreiche at a painfully slow pace. Finally, I am trying to read some important monographs that I have not yet gotten to. So far I have done Syme's Tacitus and am going to start Millar's Emperor in the Roman World in the next few days. 

[Apogeee]

15 hours ago, pro Augustis said:

I don't know much about Posselius—what makes him interesting?

Thanks for asking about Posselius - he wrote letters, orations, and other works, in both Greek and Latin. Greek wasn't written to the extent that Latin was during the Renaissance. I've also been having a look at some of his funeral poetry. The plague was devastating, and he responded to the deaths of so many friends and students. 

You've got a great deal of work to keep you going in the summer. How are you keeping up that incredible pace? 

[pro Augustis]

9 hours ago, Agrippina said:

Thanks for asking about Posselius - he wrote letters, orations, and other works, in both Greek and Latin. Greek wasn't written to the extent that Latin was during the Renaissance. I've also been having a look at some of his funeral poetry. The plague was devastating, and he responded to the deaths of so many friends and students. 

You've got a great deal of work to keep you going in the summer. How are you keeping up that incredible pace? 

Posselius sounds fascinating—I didn't realize that there was much Greek at all at the time.

My pace is a great deal less incredible than it seems. I am not working on all of that stuff at once but am trying to devote one or two hours a day to Latin, Greek, or German. On those days I do the collaborative stuff first and, if I have time left over, read some of the other material. 

[Apogeee]

2 hours ago, pro Augustis said:

Posselius sounds fascinating—I didn't realize that there was much Greek at all at the time.

My pace is a great deal less incredible than it seems. I am not working on all of that stuff at once but am trying to devote one or two hours a day to Latin, Greek, or German. On those days I do the collaborative stuff first and, if I have time left over, read some of the other material. 

It's amazing to me how much literature there is that I barely even know about. And a lot of fun.

I don't know... that sounds like a fast pace for the summer! Enjoy it!

[ciistai]

I gave myself a massive crash-course on red figure and black gloss pottery in S. Italy - then taught for three weeks at a field school (where we barely even found pottery at all!!)

[Talmid]

Not research, but something related to our interests. As a homeschooling father, I'm getting three of my kids (ages: 7, 7, 9) started in Pharr's Homeric Greek. My 9-year just audited my college course last spring and was my top performer (he obviously had an advantage of learning everyday at home with dad). Some wonderful news is there's a new edition of Pharr's book edited by Paula Debnar which makes it much more appropriate for starters.

This challenge for learning may seem audacious, but it's not. Some 150 years ago this was normal stuff for kids, and in our generation a lot of homeschoolers are now rediscovering what levels kids are really capable of performing at. When my son was 7 he read both of Homer's epics (Fagles) and Virgil (Fitzgerald). At 8, he read the Oxford History of the Classical World cover to cover. Now he's almost finished with Don Quixote (all 900+ pages in the Penguin Classics series). I think he knows more about the Romans than I do. My 7-year old daughter is currently reading Jane Austen's Emma with me, and we're having so much fun together loving Austen's wit. A 7-year old reading Austen with pleasure, imagine that! Not Dick & Jane. All three kids have been doing Mandarin too, and with my youngest son (7 yrs), since he's adopted from China, I've been trying to help him learn about his heritage. He's getting excited about being Chinese and loves everything pertaining to the culture. 

Anyhow, I better stop here, but for you future parents, I encourage you to consider homeschooling as a viable option. You'll love it as much as I do.

 

Edited July 8, 2016 by Talmid